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We may now consider the question whether fire is the sole
element existing in that celestial realm and whether there is any
outgoing thence with the consequent need of renewal.
Timaeus pronounced the material frame of the All to consist
primarily of earth and fire for visibility, earth for solidity-
and deduced that the stars must be mainly composed of fire, but
not solely since there is no doubt they are solid.
And this is probably a true account. Plato accepts it as
indicated by all the appearances. And, in fact, to all our
perception- as we see them and derive from them the impression of
illumination- the stars appear to be mostly, if not exclusively,
fire: but on reasoning into the matter we judge that since
solidity cannot exist apart from earth-matter, they must contain
earth as well.
But what place could there be for the other elements? It is
impossible to imagine water amid so vast a conflagration; and if
air were present it would be continually changing into fire.
Admitting [with Timaeus; as a logical truth] that two
self-contained entities, standing as extremes to each other need
for their coherence two intermediaries; we may still question
whether this holds good with regard to physical bodies. Certainly
water and earth can be mixed without any such intermediate. It
might seem valid to object that the intermediates are already
present in the earth and the water; but a possible answer would
be, "Yes, but not as agents whose meeting is necessary to the
coherence of those extremes."
None the less we will take it that the coherence of extremes is
produced by virtue of each possessing all the intermediates. It
is still not proven that fire is necessary to the visibility of
earth and earth to the solidarity of fire.
On this principle, nothing possesses an essential-nature of its
very own; every several thing is a blend, and its name is merely
an indication of the dominant constituent.
Thus we are told that earth cannot have concrete existence
without the help of some moist element- the moisture in water
being the necessary adhesive- but admitting that we so find it,
there is still a contradiction in pretending that any one element
has a being of its own and in the same breath denying its
self-coherence, making its subsistence depend upon others, and
so, in reality, reducing the specific element to nothing. How can
we talk of the existence of the definite Kind, earth- earth
essential- if there exists no single particle of earth which
actually is earth without any need of water to secure its
self-cohesion? What has such an adhesive to act upon if there is
absolutely no given magnitude of real earth to which it may bind
particle after particle in its business of producing the
continuous mass? If there is any such given magnitude, large or
small, of pure earth, then earth can exist in its own nature,
independently of water: if there is no such primary particle of
pure earth, then there is nothing whatever for the water to bind.
As for air- air unchanged, retaining its distinctive quality- how
could it conduce to the subsistence of a dense material like
earth?
Similarly with fire. No doubt Timaeus speaks of it as necessary
not to the existence but to the visibility of earth and the other
elements; and certainly light is essential to all visibility- we
cannot say that we see darkness, which implies, precisely, that
nothing is seen, as silence means nothing being heard.
But all this does not assure us that the earth to be visible must
contain fire: light is sufficient: snow, for example, and other
extremely cold substances gleam without the presence of fire-
though of course it might be said that fire was once there and
communicated colour before disappearing.
As to the composition of water, we must leave it an open question
whether there can be such a thing as water without a certain
proportion of earth.
But how can air, the yielding element, contain earth?
Fire, again: is earth perhaps necessary there since fire is by
its own nature devoid of continuity and not a thing of three
dimensions?
Supposing it does not possess the solidity of the three
dimensions, it has that of its thrust; now, cannot this belong to
it by the mere right and fact of its being one of the corporeal
entities in nature? Hardness is another matter, a property
confined to earth-stuff. Remember that gold- which is water-
becomes dense by the accession not of earth but of denseness or
consolidation: in the same way fire, with Soul present within it,
may consolidate itself upon the power of the Soul; and there are
living beings of fire among the Celestials.
But, in sum, do we abandon the teaching that all the elements
enter into the composition of every living thing?
For this sphere, no; but to lift clay into the heavens is against
nature, contrary to the laws of her ordaining: it is difficult,
too, to think of that swiftest of circuits bearing along earthly
bodies in its course nor could such material conduce to the
splendour and white glint of the celestial fire.
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